Why Quitting Your Job Won’t Solve All Your Problems
There’s been a lot of energy and conversation lately around the topics of lifestyle design and following your passion.
Some people will tell you that quitting your job and doing what you love is a panacea for all of life’s problems. It’s the cure for what’s ailing the stressed out, overworked, and under-engaged human.
The truth is obvious: quitting your job will definitely not solve all of your problems. Just as finding your One True Love, or the One True Religion won’t magically make all of your problems go away either.
With anything that we strive for, the grass usually seems greener on the other side. It can be hard not to romanticize the achievement of your goal. But the truth is that the road to the summit may not always be easy, and when we get there, we may find ourselves with the same mind we came there with, asking “What next?”
If you’re relying on something external to solve your problems, and you attain that external solution, you’ll likely be in a position to create another ideal, and another set of problems. With that comes another set of judgments about where you want to go, and inevitably, more striving.
The truth is, nothing beyond yourself will set you free. Freedom is a state of mind. You have the choice, right now, to do whatever you want. Will there be consequences or ripple events created based on your decisions? Yes. But that freedom to do what you want is always within your grasp, now.
I think a lot of people want to quit their jobs because the situation of working for yourself brings a sense of more freedom and control. And that is a real shift, in a situational context.
But there are limitations to working for yourself, to the perfect relationship, or anything else we might want.
So maybe it’s not the lack of limits that we’re seeking. Maybe we simply want to choose how we create our own limits, on our own terms.
Looking back, that’s why I wanted to quit my job. I thought it would bring me freedom, and yes, I too romanticized what that reality would be like once I “escaped.”
But these days I’m realizing more and more that freedom is something that we have access to right now. Anytime you rely on something else for it, you give your power to that something else. And that’s definitely not freedom.
If you want to quit your job or pursue any dream, realize that it is not a destination that brings you freedom. It’s exercising your power to be free right now that allows you to choose to work for yourself.
Sometimes we need a reminder that freedom is something freely accessed, regardless of our life situation.
Let’s not forget that.
Read the original article on Paid to Exist. Copyright 2011.
